


Two Person Job

by testedcyberneticz



Category: SteamWorld Heist
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Piper be like overthinks her past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 00:35:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21262193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/testedcyberneticz/pseuds/testedcyberneticz
Summary: Piper thinks back on her past. It's also during a time no one should be up.





	Two Person Job

Night didn't exactly exist in space. It was, actually, very easy to lose track of time in space. What did exist, though, was times where steambots at least slept, which became considered night. They tended to fall asleep around the same time, usually.

Right now was not usually. For Piper, anyways. In fact, it was _way_ past that time. And this usually wasn't the case for her. Well, she might be lying to herself somewhat, but not _this_ bad. It didn't usually get this bad without distress involved.

Which happened when she thought too deeply about the... Everything.

Specifically what made her a pirate in the first place, even being tricked into doing that in the first place, and foolishly deciding to free the prisoners. Or was it foolish? The answer to that constantly changed in her mind, if she was being honest. Did that sound horrible? Probably.

And then there was what happened with Vectron.

"Ma'am?" Wonky's voice broke Piper out of her thoughts. Wait, why was he up?

"Why are you awake?" She may as well have been echoing her thoughts, and was being rather hypocritical considering she was also up when no sane steambot would be.

"I'm on night watch tonight, remember?"

"_Oh_." Defeat laced her voice. How she had forgotten was beyond her.

"Are you thinking about it, again?" Of course he immediately knew, this happened more often then she liked to admit. So much so that on some occasion it showed slightly to her crew. This always happened around this time, when a steambot should be resting. It was somewhat purposeful at this point, she didn't exactly want her crew to see her when she was in such a state. So what better time when they were all out like a light?

Though, sometimes, she'd get into that thinking process when the others were around, and it was a game of rather not letting the others know what was going on. Why didn't she want them to know? Well, simply put, she didn't know either. Reputation? Embarrassment? She really wasn't _entirely_ sure, but she had a feeling it had something to do with not being good at handling these things well when they were about herself.

"Captain?" Scrap. How long had she not responded for? Were her thoughts slower than what was actually happening right now?

"Sorry." Piper simply replied, then said nothing else.

"You are. Hm." Wonky put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. She immediately knew what he meant by that, and got a feeling of... _Something_. It wasn't a good feeling, that was for sure.

"Not just that, it's..." She re-adjusted her hat so slightly that no one would even be able to tell she moved it, "I'm the reason Vectron got free. Once again, I do something that hurts the people around me. Again."

"Again?"

"_Wonky_." She stated his name as if what she meant was clear as day, "You're on the run, still." Even if they had killed the Red Queen, they were still wanted. The Royalists defenses were heavily weakened, and they were a mess right now, but they were still after them. They still had to be careful. The Royalists especially hated her, considering she landed the final shot. But that part didn't really concern her in the end. But either way, no matter what, even despite everything, they were still on the run from letting those prisoners free, and more now.

Remembering finding out what she had been transporting was never... _pleasant_, to say the least. It made her feel _sick_, actually. Barely anything made her feel that way. She sometimes wondered if such feelings were irrational. That was, until she realized most would feel horrible at realizing they were transporting actual steambot people to what may as well be their demise. Most people didn't see that, and she was one of the few people who did see. She saw how horrified they looked, she saw how sad and _angry_ they were. She couldn't forget it, if she was being honest.

Her crew didn't really know. Seabrass, a little, but that was it. She didn't exactly want the rest to know, they'd get worried and concerned. Or even ask details, who knew. She just didn't even want a _reaction_ to it, for the most part, if not entirely. It made her job easier.

"It's only natural, ma'am. I helped you free them."

"I know but-"

"I completely agreed. We both agreed. If you hadn't done that... Well, I wouldn't be the pilot, now would I?" He was right, she hadnt forced him at all, they had both immediately agreed to set them free. Memories of having to build him into this ship instead of the old one lingered in her mind for some seconds, "and even with Vectron, you couldn't have known." He was also right about that.

"I still did it, I still let it go."

"We helped you get to it."

"Freeing it was decided by me."

"We agreed to that decision."

"You didn't know what it could do."

"Neither did you." Piper sighed immediately after hearing this. There was a solid long time of silence. He was absolutely right, once again, (_she kind of wished he would stop being right_) but... She was the captain. In the end, decisions fell on her, didn't they? So wasn't she responsible for all of them? Even the ones she had no way of ever being able to control?

Especially ones that ended up with her last crew being scrapped?

"I think I should do night shift, instead." She tried to clear her voice of any stress. Some more silence passed as Wonky thought.

"Maybe night shift should be a two person job, tonight."


End file.
